Trnava University, Faculty of Law & The Human Rights League

Description

CLINIC COORDINATOR: Barbora Messova CLINIC TEACHER: Miroslava Snirerova CLINIC LAWYERS: Bohumir Blaha, Miroslava Snirerova CLINIC ASSISSTANTS: Zuzana Stevulova, Miroslava Volanska YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2001

Organizational Structure

The Refugee Law Clinic at Trnava University, an externship clinic, includes two primary partners: Trnava University, where students receive theoretical training, and the Human Rights League, where students engage in the practical component of the legal clinic. It was these two partners together with The Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Slovakia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Branch Office in Slovakia that have worked to establish the clinic. The Slovak Helsinki Committee has given up work on this field and the Human Rights League with the same lawyers decided to continue in development of the Refugee Law Clinic.

Partnerships

The UNHCR plays ongoing roles in the clinic's operation. See details under 'donors' below. The American Bar Association's Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI), which has been active in funding and supporting legal clinical education in Slovakia, provided expert consultation on legal clinic management in spring 2002. The most important partner is The Legal Clinic of the Trnava University which associates all the legal clinics at Trnava University.

Division of Labor

Miroslava Snirerova is responsible for the theoretical side of the clinic. She is competent for curriculum development, teaching the clinic course, recruiting external lecturers, and providing the students with study materials. The practical component of the clinic is supervised by the other members of the clinic management. Supervisors assign students relevant case work, train students in country of origin research, coordinate and supervise students' practical work.

Donors

Trnava University provides funding for the theoretical part of the clinic and funds the travel costs of the students. The UNHCR provides study materials, guidance, guest lecturers, and training sessions. All the rest of the activities of the clinic are done on voluntary basis. For more information on the Trnava University Faculty and its clinical activiy please consult the website. Weblinks for the law clinics of Slovakia can be found at www.lawclinic.sk